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COPYRIGHT DEPOSITS 



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THE WORLD AN -^^'^^ 
EDUCATIONAL UNIT 



WITH CENTRALIZED EDUCATION 
AS THE CONTROLLING FORCE 



A plea from the poor for 
the same educational homie 
environments as the rich 
enjoy, and a plea from the 
rich for better thought ^ 



By, ADAMS DANFORTH RAUB 






Copyright, 1910, 
toy 
Adams Danpokth Rattb 



gCI..A256512 






THE WORLD AN 
EDUCATIONAL UNIT 



THE world wastes too much — more than half its 
power, more than half its riches, more than half 
the lives of its men. 
The power created and lost without use far exceeds 
that actually put to useful purpose. The energy pro- 
duced — always at great cost — and frittered away with- 
out productive employment would lighten the labor and 
double the blessed results of all effort. The money 
wasted by half the world would keep the other half from 
want. The food destroyed by millionaires would sustain 
the millions. The opportunities missed by the fortunate 
would, if utilized, banish misfortune from the earth. 

There is in the world more of power, of money, and 
of food than the race requires. The stream of resource 
coming to man is unfathomable. If wisely conserved 
and thoughtfully directed, this stream would lose no feast 
that body could consume or brain demand, not a penny 
of cash that weahh could use, and not an atom of power 
that possession demands or posterity could employ. The 
millions who lack would want no more ; the work undone 
would be accomplished; the promise of creation would 
be fulfilled. 

More than half the power locked in coal passes up 
the chimney in useless smoke. More than half the energy 
consigned to man is lost in experimental and undirected 
effort. More than half the race, born to a heritage of 
hope, dies in despair. 

Why, if the world possesses all that is needed by the 
race, is the race still vainly trying, still spending the years 
in hopelessness, still sinking in the sea of failure? 



2 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 

Because the wisdom of the world is even more 
unequally distributed than is its power, wealth, or food; 
because the millions are untaught, though able teachers 
abound; because there is no bond linking the sons of 
men together in one great family ; no wise strength, born 
of unity, which, without impoverishing or crippling the 
rich, the wise, and the fortunate, still aids the weaker 
brothers by showing them how. 

The race is doing less than it can because we do not 
help each other ; because there is no unity binding us all 
together; no common purpose by which the wise may 
teach the unlettered. If there were, the potentialities of 
man would not be wasted in smoke; the wealth of the 
world would not lie half idle, half the subject of con- 
tinual quarrel. And there zvould he no more zvar. 

Many good men the world over are looking for some 
practical plan to be adopted by civilization, by which to 
produce a perfect and indestructible international union — 
a world brotherhood. Let the reader bear with me to the 
end of this article, and see if the idea and plan here sug- 
gested do not solve the many problems. 

According to statistics, about one-fifth of our popu- 
lation is continually in school. This accounts for the 
wonderful advancement of the last century. As chil- 
dren, we are taught by father, mother, and the kinder- 
garten ; and afterward by our secondary schools and 
colleges. In this article I shall endeavor to prove that 
it is a duty government owes to itself — and to the race — 
to extend further educational facilities for the benefit of 
the elders, those in middle life and in old age. 

If this idea is an innovation, so were free schools"»at 
the beginning. The wonderful printing-press and the 
postal service have made this idea practical. I believe 
it is wise to secure centralized education, which is rep- 



THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 3 

resentative of the people; furthermore, this teaching 
may be used as a governing force, thus adding greatly 
to the value of the education itself. 

To introduce this plan, v^e must lay the foundation 
of a national press. Consider the grand results that 
would be obtained : Each family in the republic would 
receive the following five papers, edited by a combina- 
tion of great talent in teaching, men capable of impart- 
ing useful knowledge in their specialized branches for the 
general profit and advancement of the people at large. 

Paper First should be an agricultural journal, pub- 
lished under the supervision of the Secretary of Agricul- 
ture, at Washington, then reviewed and supplemented at 
the experiment station in each state, to suit the climatic 
conditions therein; thus would be perfected the industry 
of some twenty millions of farmers who hold in their 
hands our greatest national prosperity. 

Paper Second should pertain to science and litera- 
ture. It should contain articles on physics, chemistry, 
geology, astronomy, electricity, etc., and should treat also 
of inventions, mechanics, biography, and history; it 
should contain comments on the books of the day, literary 
articles, reviews; it should contain a department pertain- 
ing to home life, the fine arts, music, painting, hygiene, 
and domestic economy; it should contain miscellaneous 
articles on party measures and political economy, giving 
both sides of all public questions, so that each citizen 
shall be able to cast his vote intelligently. 

Paper Third should be a "youth's companion," sim- 
ilar to a publication so designated which is edited in Bos- 
ton, Mass. 

Paper Fourth should have articles suitable to man's 
spiritual nature, undenominational and presenting a pure 
morality. 



4 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 

Paper Fifth should be devoted to all questions of re- 
form — the temperance question, municipal government, 
the concentration of wealth, trusts and their effects, 
crime and its prevention, etc. 

The entire series of these five papers should be sent 
under one cover to every family in the United States 
each week. The estimated cost is seven cents for each 
family. Such a series of papers, so produced and so cir- 
culated, would be a fortress against the destruction of 
government — a source of immeasurable united strength 
for the nation. Its scope makes it a fountain of knowl- 
edge, and the reliability of such a publication would 
guarantee the acceptance of its conclusions. 

Let us estimate a few of its uses. As a reform meas- 
ure, it would enter all the homes of the now unconsidered 
part of our population, giving them new views of life — 
views good and pure, above reproach. 

The very poor cannot afford to buy books, and pub- 
lic libraries are confined to favored localities. This plan 
excels, inasmuch as the series of papers, in itself a library 
of universal knowledge, reaches every family and be- 
comes its own property and subject to its own liberty — 
a practical exponent of the acceptable doctrine of peace 
on earth and good will toward men. 

Government has yet many unsolved problems. One 
of these is the race question. By this plan the colored 
people would be reached in their own homes — whether 
north or south — with educational facilities, assisting them 
to become capable, respectable citizens of the republic; 
it would make sectional strife and a future civil war im- 
possible by giving the commonwealth a continuous, homo- 
geneous education. Our national experience from 1861 
to 1865, costing the North and South billions of dollars 
and the destruction of property, added to the pain and 



THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 5 

death which placed the nation in mourning, should be 
remembered, and internal strife avoided. Financially 
speaking, take the principal, the destruction of property, 
the interest on the cost of the Civil War, and finally the 
pensions, and we have a summary of nearly forty billion 
dollars to date, with the interest perpetually compound- 
ing. Wars and rumors of war should and could be made 
ancient history. All power should belong to the people; 
and I desire to suggest a centralized education as a gen- 
eral controlling and governing force. 

Let an educational department be formed at Wash- 
ington. Then, let us say, thirty men, with the outgoing 
President, should be selected by the President and ratified 
by the Senate to serve as life editors, after the manner 
of appointing the judges of the Supreme Court; thereby 
men of the same world-wide reputation for profound 
wisdom, great learning, and integrity of character would 
be secured. Moreover, in addition to these, one editor 
should be appointed by the Governor of each state and 
ratified by the lower house of Congress to serve a limited 
number of years. But no editor should be eligible to 
appointment unless vouched for by a board selected by 
our best colleges. The body of men so chosen would 
form an editorial college at Washington. The plan be- 
comes simple and economical, because on so large a scale. 

The first papers should be issued to the District 
of Columbia. Advance sheets should then be sent to the 
capital of each state for supplementary printing and for 
distribution to each family through the post-offices. The 
college of editors should organize into committees, each 
committee to have control of a special division of the 
publication and be empowered to purchase manuscripts, 
to employ specialists, and to take other necessary steps 
to bring the paper to the highest possible degree of per- 



6 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 

fection. The committees would have unlimited facilities 
for public good. 

This plan is representative of the people, and the 
thought going out to the people will be unsubsidized and 
truthful. If desired, each side of public questions could 
be considered in a public discussion, in contributed arti- 
cles, for the enlightenment of the voters. The conclu- 
sions would be vastly more correct than with the present 
plan, where party men take party papers which gratify 
their prejudice or which have too much partisan enthu- 
siasm to be reliable. Such a publication would rapidly 
assimilate, educate, and give a correct influence to the 
great numbers of immigrant home-seekers constantly 
landing on our shores. 

Should it be deemed wise by the people for the 
government to pursue an expansion policy, in order to 
aid commerce, to push Anglo-Saxon civilization, or for 
any other reason, the plan here suggested would rapidly 
assimilate the Hawaiians, the Porto Ricans, and the Fili- 
pinos. If they are to be in any degree a part of the re- 
public, they should — in justice to the rest of us, no less 
than in fairness to themselves — be instructed on the best 
thought of the citizens whom they are to join. They 
should have lessons in self-restraint and in self-govern- 
ment. 

Such a plan might make inducements for the Cubans 
to join our sisterhood of states. The larger and better 
educated the nation, the better the publication. During 
the Spanish war the writer felt that an alliance with some 
other country would have been acceptable, fearing a 
combination of nations against us in Europe. A woVld 
emergency may yet come when such a movement will be 
acceptable and prudent. Such an alliance could be made 
by an exchange of writers in a formal manner ; it would 



THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 7 

be purely an educational one, amounting to an appeal to 
the people to create a sentiment, and therefore would not 
be entangling. Such an alliance would be very effective 
if made strong enough, and such a publication would be 
a national mind wherein the opinion of the writers makes 
the opinion of the people. 

Much has been said of the wonderful stability and 
power of centralized governments, it being recognized 
that the only trouble in centralization is despotism by 
armies through physical force. In this plan we have all 
the power and stability without the danger. We, the 
people, may have centralized educational influence for the 
sake of self-knowledge, guidance, and unity that gives 
us just what we need. We, as citizens of a republic, 
would be bound together by blood, language, thought, 
interest, commerce, and by an education invincible in the 
blending, giving us increased intelligence. In this way 
the United States would become an educational unit. 

Hope suggests that we make our republic indestructi- 
ble and make a home wherein the proverbial English 
liberty may live forever. 

Now comes the question : Can the world be made 
an educational unit after the same plan? We answer 
that it can. In view of the importance of such a move- 
ment, we ask that a national assembly and press be 
established in each country — in other words, a duplicate 
of the department we have suggested as a promising 
reform for this republic. 

Then we shall ask for a more important assembly 
than has yet been established in any nation. We would 
call this greater assembly a World Congress. Its make- 
up and selection should be from among the men forming 
the various national assemblies. We would then have 
an assembly or congress of the world's greatest talent, a 



8 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 

court of arbitration for the world. These men would, 
as a body, find educational employment for themselves 
through each national assembly, to all the post-offices in 
the world — ^thus reaching each family and each mind in 
a manner that is simplicity itself. 

A few years ago this scheme would have been im- 
possible. The telegraph, the railroad system, the postal 
service, and the printing-press had not then reached 
perfection. Now, such a national press would hold the 
people together with a unifying influence equal to that of 
a commissary department in an army. Man is a creature 
of education, and the mind grows hungry for mental food 
just as does the body for its nourishment. 

The ills of civilization are many. War is one that 
from the dawn of philosophy has been regarded as a 
waste of human energy, the curse of humanity, the 
enemy of spiritual life, the bane of the dark ages, and 
the scourge that breeds famine, pestilence, and death. 
War means permission given by civilization to two minds 
to hurl thousands or millions of human beings together 
in armed conflict, sometimes even in dispute over a na- 
tional line in a wilderness, as in the Boer war. Often 
the question is one that a homogeneous education or a 
higher civilization would have rendered unimportant. 

Suppose that when the earth is fully civilized it con- 
tains fifty nations, and two of them get into a dispute. 
Such a congress as that here suggested has access to 
every ear in the two contending nations, and can reason 
as if face to face with them. Being composed of earth's 
greatest talent, their arguments and pleadings should be 
successful. But as a test of power, and in case of final 
resort, the minds of the forty-eight nations are to be 
heard from, whose duty is made plain to them by educa- 
tion, and who would support a world's congress by their 



THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 9 

combined power. We may conclude that a moral and 
financial suicide would not be permitted by the people 
of the two governments. The merit of the question in 
dispute must find its way peaceably to this high court of 
arbitration, dignified by all the nations for the purpose. 
In ancient times people invoked the power of the gods. 
Are not we justified in invoking the vastly more powerful 
Spirit of the Age? 

This would be the invocation : 

"May the Spirit of the Age build for each nation a 
national press, a perpetual clock of learning, the sweep 
of whose combined pendulums reaches from the capital 
of the earth's assembled wisdom to each home in the 
world. May the armed camps of Europe be broken up, 
and college life be substituted for soldier life ! May the 
multiplied billions and billions of wealth now expended 
in idleness, in armament, or in war, be expended in edu- 
cational facilities for the children of men!" 

A small fraction of the expenses of war would pay 
the expenses of the national press. A publication such 
as described substitutes itself for the dime novel, the lit- 
erature of the anarchist, and other bad reading matter. 
It reaches every corner in every dilapidated hut in the 
world, and becomes an antiseptic against each vice or 
combination of vices that fills our courts with criminals, 
our poor houses, asylums, jails, and penitentiaries with 
victims, and the ^world with weakened minds. At first, 
it might be said, many of these publications would not 
be read. This is true; but that very fact within itself is 
the proof of an unhealthy condition. 

A government does some things better than can indi- 
viduals acting for selfish ends. An example of what 
could not be done by individuals seeking their own gain is 
the postal service. A world effort is required in some 



lo THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 

things. Yellow fever, bubonic plague, and consumption 
are examples. A world congress, representing all the 
people of earth, would give a com.bination of power that 
might in time eradicate the seed of every weed from the 
face of the earth, and make our globe a new Garden of 
Eden. There can be no limit in doing good or in eradi- 
cating the bad in any field. 

An alliance of the world's minds for the sake of 
betterment would make life, liberty, and property safe 
throughout the entire earth. Capital is quick to see 
advantage, and Africa, Asia, and South America would 
quickly be made the home of much permanent invest- 
ment. These countries would be made to absorb hun- 
dreds of thousands of miles of railroads for the incoming 
millions, for the new civilization — just as a like phenom- 
enon has been seen in the United States. This means 
the greatest and the most permanent impetus ever given 
to manufacturing industries on any continent. 

Best of all, the universal civilization that an alliance 
of intellect would develop, would be made indestructible. 
Whence could come any element of danger that a well 
united mankind could not wisely consider, and then con- 
trol or remove? 

Does it not seem a better order than the war and 
the waste of the present arrangement? 

We see in print that some of our greatest minds 
are predicting the downfall of this republic, a republic 
the greatest the world ever saw. There are numerous 
grounds for such prophecy ; among them, our expansion 
into alien races, and the corruption and bribery that have 
become familiar to all who read. The prophets of 
calamity point to the fact that centralized combinations 
of capital make might; that the situation is the same as 
in a powerful despotic nation; that when might makes 



THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT ii 

right, justice weeps and is inconsolable. They point to 
the fact that since the dawn of mankind nations have 
come and gone — and this is true; that history repeats it- 
self; that a time will come, as in the past, when the earth 
will know us no more; that bribery is a sign of eternal 
decay ; that ambitious men in all ages, together with vice, 
are the direct cause of anarchy, bloodshed, and misery. 

But with the plan here suggested we evolutionize ; 
we run jealousy, selfishness, and war out of existence. 
We act on the aggressive, and make the world a school 
through a world congress and group of national assem- 
blies — twin agents of wisdom to teach and guide us, two 
divine shepherds of protection which allow neither man 
nor nation to stray; persuading, not forcing, leading, not 
driving, giving, and not taking — two combinations of 
master minds to assist each home and individual to the 
utmost, whereby each personal advancement is limited 
only by its own effort and capacity. 

This plan is not difficult to accomplish. It needs 
only an educational division in all governments that will 
unite and, when united, be like the arm and hand of the 
Almighty, reaching down through clouds and lifting 
civilization to higher and higher levels. 

Master minds throughout the world desire employ- 
ment and honor. Simply a little legislation ends the task. 
Right here in the United States are millions of minds 
hungry for mental food. Right here in the United States 
are men who can supply the demand. In a matter so 
easily accomplished, why procrastinate? Let us, of this 
Anglo-Saxon republic, be the first to try this experiment, 
this organization of educated government, this effort to 
consecrate home life, to the end that all things evil and 
wicked may perish and that all things noble and good 
may take root and grow and remain imperishable; and 



12 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 

to the end that each fireside shall find contentment, shall 
be made attractive, instructive, and happy. Then, if 
other nations shall follow our example, a higher, nobler, 
grander civilization awaits us, whose force must cover 
the entire earth, stimulating and educating each atom 
of mankind toward moral, mental, and financial better- 
ment. We claim that if dollars and cents can be organ- 
ized so as not to fight each other, and if the organization 
can be made economical and otherwise beneficial, so can 
the moral and mental interests of all men be organized 
for mutual gain. 

An educational division of all the nations, even 
when united, changes the structure of no government, 
except by inner evolution. But this reform means more 
than an outward and visible change could imply. It 
means that the entire manhood and womanhood of the 
human race, acting under modern and reasonable 
methods, can be controlled as a body and at the same 
time uplifted to the highest plane of utility; that the 
wisdom and strength of the earth will concentrate upon 
each mind and make each nation a college. The world 
is a larger college, containing as many rooms and places 
of active improvement as there are human beings in ex- 
istence. 

The success of this movement, by its ability to ex- 
tinguish war and gradually to eliminate crime, would 
realize the perfection of economy. It would in many 
other obvious ways bring an increased ratio of material 
betterment; therefore, the movement would cost no 
sacrifice. 

Civilization so constructed would meet the approval 
of Omnipotence, for perfect environment would con- 
stantly surround our children, ennoble them, and keep 
them in the midst of peace, thrift, and wisdom forever. 



THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 13 

All nations ask for a unity as against a world inter- 
nal menace. This plan secures such a unity outside of 
diplomacy, a unity that forever perfects itself by assist- 
ing and directing experimental effort as a whole, and, 
in the nature of things, compelling, through conscience, 
exact justice to all. 

Much depends upon the United States. We, as a 
republic, are untrammeled, and are said to be the hope 
of the world. If so, shall we not, as a nation, set an 
example, and, as a nation, start a practical movement 
in national unity and in world unity that will, in a coming 
time, bring the whole world under one great beneficent 
and perfect educational influence, to the end that the 
limitless good of the earth may rest in blessing on all the 
children of men ? 

In the past a condition mostly the reverse of unity 
has obtained; history shows that in all times and in all 
ages the bane of humanity has been the betrayal and per- 
version of power. Therefore a world's congress of edu- 
cators and a centralization of thought is needed in behalf 
of human liberty, human rights, and the safety of nations. 
Furthermore, such a congress would guarantee absolute 
fairness in commerce and trade, and not only this, but 
it would determine and dictate the character and expres- 
sion of the thought that would go to each mind. Each 
nation being represented in this convention by its great- 
est wisdom, such a body of men would represent the 
world's judgment, and their power over the world's mind 
would make a perfect world unity. How to accomplish 
such a unity is the question of the day. 

In order to make progress in this article, let us pre- 
sume each nation willing to furnish the means to trans- 
mit such wisdom and learning to the people ; then would 
come the question of organization and how best to secure 



14 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 

the character and purity of such a congress in its first 
conception. The responsibiHty would be on modern 
civiHzation, after which we could point to a precedent. 
The United States, in her organization, made it incum- 
bent for each state to enter her union by request and 
permission. In this new educational organization the 
backward and half-civilized nations could be admitted 
to a congress of instructive nationhood just as our west- 
ern states have become an active part of our civil union. 
If compulsory education is right in principle for the 
preservation of a state or nation, why not at a proper 
time multiply its scope in favor of such an international 
educational unity because of the stability it would insure, 
and make such civilization world-wide? We, however, 
point to the fact that such a congress would be in control 
of civilization, and its members, being themselves educa- 
tors, would necessarily be aggressive; they would extend 
their own influence. 

All questions in betterment are important, but of 
multiplied importance is the problem of a world unity. 
At The Hague Convention, called at the instigation of 
Russia, all nations expressed themselves as extremely 
desirous of such a unity. If all are desirous, what na- 
tion could object to a world unity founded absolutely 
upon individual betterment? The daily converse with 
the world's greatest intelligence would bring to each 
citizen a permanent betterment in every conceivable 
direction, therefore a betterment immeasurable. All peo- 
ple desire to be advanced along the line of their own and 
universal betterment. There can be no other plan, fo^ 
some lines of improvement are world-wide in their na- 
ture and require so extended an influence that nothing 
short of a universal organization is adequate. To illus- 
trate: The necessities of posterity require the world's 



THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 15 

forethought — our descendants deserve a more econom- 
ical use of the coal beds or a satisfactory substitute for 
this fuel; their necessities demand the preservation of 
forests, the maintenance of soil fertility, the benefits of 
useful forms of animal life liable to become extinct 
through immoderate waste. Plant life should be de- 
veloped to its utmost limit; bird life protected, which in 
return protects plant life; the oppression of the Jews and 
the persecution of the Armenians should cease; justice 
the world over should prevail ; millions of people in con- 
gested centers, rearing childen and starving, should be 
persuaded to transplant themselves to some of the many 
fertile wildernesses, thus developing untouched resources 
and producing added prosperity and employment. The 
correction of common abuses is a part of our duty to 
posterity. The necessities of the human race do not call 
for more resources, but for a wise, instructive, directing 
head, a world's congress of greatest wisdom. 

As this is a practical age, let us analyze the expense. 
Seven cents per week means one cent per day for each 
family, the average family consisting of five persons. 
At twenty cents per hour it takes each member of the 
family thirty-six seconds a day to pay tribute. But there 
comes a rebate in the shape of improved sanitary con- 
ditions, resulting in prolonged life in which to earn the 
tribute. The greatness and the power of organization is 
wonderful. For its perfection we point to Germany and 
France, who, when in danger, it is said, can move their 
entire useful manhood in thirty or sixty days to a given 
point ; then we ask that you compare the expense and the 
result of the organizations. We repeat, an example of 
worse than wasted energy was our Civil War, aggravated 
by causes that never should have existed. Shall we not 
ask ourselves the question : Are we, the human race, 



i6 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 

doing the best we can? We know all governments are 
made with human hands; observation discovers their 
want of perfection, and The Hague Convention expressed 
a need of a closer union between nations. Then why 
not adopt a combined instructive nationhood ? We claim 
that the twentieth century is an age of progress, of com- 
merce, of evolution, and of betterment. The general 
assertion that history repeats itself means fatalism. 

Civilizations have come, flourished and gone, but 
in unity they were not organized nor founded upon 
individual betterment. Had we such an organization, a 
single wise, great, and beneficial thought might reach all 
minds and change the world. It would have a channel 
through which to bring itself to the attention of every 
human being with the insistence of authority. Then, in 
view of accomplishing the long-wished-for world unity — 
an everlasting and indestructible unity — is it not reason- 
able to ask each nation to serve its people by taking such 
thoughts as are the product of its own greatest talent, 
and with centralized environment making each home life 
perfect? It is evident that if half the world can be so 
controlled, eventually the other half will be brought to 
the same condition. In organization we accumulate 
power. For good and for evil, human mind-power is 
mighty. This power must be found and left with the 
people. After Omnipotence, earth's wisdom should con- 
trol mankind. Under the plan we have presented, all 
people would be as one family to be educated, and neces- 
sarily costly, suicidal, ambitious dissensions would dis- 
appear; moreover, livelihood would be more easily 
obtained. Intellectually, in mind and thought, the human 
race would become homogeneous and attain the greatest 
excellence. Indeed, the measure of every known and in- 
conceivable excellence that would be reached by posterity 



THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 17 

under such advantages and inspiration could know no 
iimit. 

Believing that the United States, by her own ex- 
ample, argument, and persuasion, could influence the 
nations of the world to join hands with her in establish- 
ing a world educational government, we submit our plan 
of proceedings. While all nations within themselves are 
organized as we see them, zve now point to the fact that 
civilization itself as yet has not been organized; hence 
this undertaking of a world necessity on lines educational. 

To the coming friends of this movement, and to 
those who fortunately control the greatest republic the 
world ever saw, we venture to say, should the United 
States adopt an educative department of government 
suitable to this movement, all other nations in defense 
of their own commerce and trade would be compelled to 
establish the same. Why? The reason is this: Such 
an educative movement upon our part would encourage 
and stimulate the inventive genius of the American 
people to an extent unparalleled. We are already, on 
account of our multiplied advantages, absorbing the 
world's trade. With such additional awakening, by so 
assisting and intensifying the American genius, our man- 
ufacturers could and would make still lower prices and 
immeasurably greater inroads upon trade, thus com- 
pelling, by greater intelligence, but in a legitimate and 
natural competition, all other nations to better educate 
their own people or retire from competition in business. 
Thus the American people hold the key to the movement, 
and, being their own masters, have the power to establish 
a world condition of this kind. The primary question, 
therefore, relates to the possibilities of establishing a suit- 
able department in our country. The situation is this: 
We have two dominant political parties, each seeking 



i8 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 

every advantage in its own behalf. Should the party in 
power neglect or refuse to grant this educative move- 
ment, such a question would become a national issue. 
The plan strengthens each mother's hands, and no father 
would oppose the movement. The very essence of the 
issue that would be forced into debate is this: Are 
armies and armaments necessary to a civilization that 
can be controlled through the mind? We repeat, the 
world is bending under unnecessary expense. 

Our demands are most reasonable; we simply ask 
for an organization wherein earth's wisdom can con- 
stantly address and educate power. We claim that if a 
nation can be controlled and educated, and that if the 
world can be controlled and at the same time educated, 
it ought to be done, for multiplied billions in economy 
would thus be secured each century. Be it remembered, 
however, that the future of civilization is not a question 
of finance, but of organized intelligence. To establish 
the plan we propose is a matter of legislation that can 
be quickly accomplished. Then, under the most enlight- 
ened and useful system a world could know, were civil- 
ization to develop ever so far, the centralized wisdom of 
the nation and of the earth would forever be dominant, 
and on account of the environment the system would 
supply no part of civilization could ever again recede. 

In view of the accomplishment of this movement, 
we again point to the unbounded prestige of the United 
States among all nations, and we desire this republic to 
be both a leader and an educator — a leader by being an 
object lesson, and an educator by means of precept and 
argument; the latter through the centralized wisdom of 
our nation as represented by a body of men who could 
and would plead the cause of human rights to a slowly 
improving race of people constantly and anxiously seek- 



THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 19 

ing betterment. From this stand need we doubt that 
God's beautiful, exhaustless earth must become a world 
republic in representative and progressive thought, secur- 
ing to each country and government an absolute national 
unity, to all the nations combined an absolute world 
unity, whose foundation stone is human development? 

The population of the United States will soon be 
one hundred millions of people, or, say, one-seventeenth 
of the world's population. Our influence, so solidly 
developed, so wisely and sincerely directed, would be 
almost supreme. 

At present the waste and unoccupied lands of the 
earth could, if utilized, many thousand times pay the 
world's indebtedness. The material interests of the 
world are the same, and the world is already highly 
enough civilized for our purpose, and were our govern- 
ment so organized it would be enabled quickly to estab- 
lish these views. If so organized, all humanity would be 
allowed to witness an example of one hundred millions 
of earth's wisest and greatest people speaking in one 
mighty voice. For the world not to listen to a voice so 
emphasized would be against its own interest. 

Can this obscure article in some way make such an 
idea and plan of educational government in the United 
States a national issue, and thus lead up to the plan of 
placing all peoples under one great and perfect educa- 
tional voice and influence ? For certainly as this republic 
goes on this question, so goes the world. 

Were we asked to name our idea and plan, it might 
be called national and ivorld educational paternalism. 
All governments are paternal, or are supposed to be. 
The three divisions in government we now have are 
paternalism pure and simple. But it is an uncompleted 
paternalism. We are living in and under an incomplete 



20 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 

government. We ask that the divisions in government 
shall be : Educative, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. 
Is an educative division in government unreasonable 
when established solely for the sake of mind government 
or mental (representative, of course) control? This is 
aside from the merit in the organization that may be 
credited to scientific education. 

If not considered unreasonable, but safe and 
economical (as compared to physical force by armies), 
then we shall eventually have a mind government by 
persuasion and argument (to grow world-wide as physical 
force is abhorrent), wherein scientific education within 
itself is but a welcome addition. We shall indeed have 
a double benefit. Let us suppose that an educative 
division in government as described is made a national 
issue. This issue, with a vote of approval, at once com- 
mits this republic enthusiastically and aggressively to such 
a movement. We, as a republic, arei now armed by act 
of Congress with a printed voice reaching one-seven- 
teenth of the world's population, and necessarily com- 
manding the world's deepest attention, and advocating 
home and fireside education by a world's congress. 

In this plan we now claim to occupy an infallible 
position ; a failure to establish a world unity from such 
a standpoint would be impossible, as such agitation, 
preaching, arguing and pleading with the nations of the 
world by this, the greatest republic the world ever saw, 
would so continue indefinitely, or until such power was 
revoked and taken away by another act of Congress 
(which would be never). 

All people desire betterment, and all nations desire 
to disarm, and the literature of both aspirations would 
be loaded down and saturated with the world's greatest 
and most useful thought, coming in the way of educa- 



THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 21 

tional philanthropy to the rich and poor alike, and ob- 
tainable at an expense many times less than the cost of 
war. If the nations now accept this particular mode of 
home and fireside education, its acceptance carries with 
it a governing force by argument and by persuasion, and 
controlled by a world's congress, outside and independent 
of every nation, which destroys the fighting capacity in 
every nation. This governing force could be strength- 
ened by all the nations jointly arming such world's con- 
gress with delegated ability like that of a Supreme Court 
and with a power to silence any national assembly, it 
being absolutely necessary to do this to collect a national 
debt or to prevent war; and it is also understood that 
such a world's congress should herself assume all the 
educational duties of each national assembly and thus 
cover every temporary emergency. 

War can be prevented if such a mode of home and 
fireside education can be added to our present institutions. 
In this article we ask the United States to copy Russia 
at The Hague Convention, to stand upon her own dignity 
as a nation and proclaim by her own example leadership 
within herself in such a movement for the world's better- 
ment, cordially inviting each and every nation into such 
educational copartnership, to share and share alike and 
be good comrades to the end of time. 

Comes now the question of immediate action, to 
launch at once the national issue of an educative division 
in government as described, a work whose accomplish- 
ment is the key of the situation and necessarily the sum- 
mit of our ambition. Our appeal must be answered by 
the people of this republic. 

Lately and for the year 1909 we as a republic appro- 
priated some four hundred millions of money for the 
army and navy and for pensions. At the same time all 



22 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 

Europe, when upon a war footing, aside from naval ex- 
penses must feed, clothe, and pay some sixteen millions 
of soldiers, besides the cost of the mechanical equip- 
ment for the destruction of both life and property; and 
all the capital for such an outlay is called defense money. 
These are facts, and not theories, and this condition is 
for future correction. Our plan reverses this situation 
exactly. We claim that if every soldier and sailor on 
both continents who is the recipient of a war pension 
were transformed into a first class school teacher and 
the resultant army of pedagogues were scattered over 
the earth, our plan of enlightenment would still be the 
better plan; our distribution of thought is more perfect, 
and we concentrate man's wisdom. Could we have but 
a part of the brutal expense of war and preparation for 
war for education and publications, then ere long each 
family and individual of the human race would find in 
their own home the benefits of such a publication — a 
literature the offspring and inspiration of earth's selected 
and greatest talent, a publication at once a world unity 
within itself. The blend of thought going to each mind 
from such a Congress would necessarily establish a 
mental copartnership of the human race with that Con- 
gress ; each and every thought would be absorbed by the 
public and mentally acted upon the same as the lessons 
learned by a child. Then as it is undeniably true of 
man that "as he thinketh in his heart, so is he," let us 
again ask. How could war commence or exist without 
the consent of such a congress? Certainly from past 
experience and financially speaking an educative division 
in government in each country is the most economical 
step that could be taken. Educationally speaking, ideas 
should have transportation. 



THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 23 

The operation of our plan may be illustrated by a 
similar work in a local institution that is a type in minia- 
ture of the great system we have in contemplation. 
Purdue University Experiment Station, located in the 
home city of the writer, could through its use of a sub- 
sidized state publication with a department of agricul- 
ture and reaching every farm home of Indiana, make 
every farm in the state a branch experimental station, 
and thus, through and by intense scientific farming, mul- 
tiply Indiana's financial resources in this field to a figure 
undreamed. Then bring to such a condition each state 
and territory in the United States and eventually all the 
nations of the world ! Remember, too, that such a con- 
dition, with respect to agriculture, is but one circum- 
stance to be considered in favor of a world educational 
government or unity. In other words, such a unity as 
is illustrated by Purdue University Experiment Station 
would mean that this grand old world, bursting with 
resources from its center to the sky for the use of man, 
would be transformed into a great and mighty school 
wherein the human race eventually, individually and in 
mass, would improve in all directions, and this contin- 
uously, swiftly, and with certainty. 

In this plan each member of the human race has 
virtually the balance of humanity in his employ seeking 
development, and thus as the unity is thereby a world 
educational government with its foundation on the bed 
rock of individual betterment, it is necessarily indestruct- 
ible. And as the many nations constituting what is called 
civilization have no common purpose nor organization, 
and badly need both, we herewith submit the foregoing 
plan for a world educational structure and unity for con- 
sideration, as a national and world issue. 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



A Plan to Conserve the World's 

Resources and to Make 

War Impossible 



An Organization that Supplies 
A World Necessity and 
A National Want, 
creating 
A Perfected Home 



The World's To-morrow 



LIBRARY OF 



■,v.^^:-.l 



